One of the most serious problems facing soils in the Republic of Moldova today is compaction. The main cause is the disregard of crop rotation and the excessive use of chemical inputs. This imbalance affects the health of the soil, which is a living organism.
“In a single teaspoon of healthy soil, there are more microorganisms than the entire population of the globe. And soil, like a living organism, must be nourished in a balanced way—not continuously ‘salted’ only with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Sustainable agriculture cannot exist without respecting the fundamental laws of agronomy: preserving soil structure, restoring organic matter, and keeping the soil permanently covered, either with crops or plant residues,” says Boris Boincean, PhD in agricultural sciences.
The expert emphasizes that Moldova risks losing part of its chernozem soil irreversibly. “Nature never leaves soil bare—there is always some kind of plant cover. In the past, farmers combined crops in ways that efficiently used resources—water, light, and nutrients—throughout the season. Today, uniform and standardized crops increase vulnerability to drought and diseases. The agriculture of the future must work in harmony with nature, not against it,” says Boris Boincean.
The specialist offered several recommendations for farmers during the seminar “Sustainable Agriculture: Land Improvements and Efficient Field Crop Production Technologies,” organized by the Agricultural and Rural Advisory Center.
- Respect crop rotation with a greater diversity of main and successive crops according to their biological characteristics and requirements regarding the return period to the same field within the rotation, as well as the time interval between crops with similar biological and ecological features.
- Include perennial leguminous crops in the rotation to accumulate biological nitrogen from the atmosphere and reduce or eliminate the use of mineral nitrogen fertilizers, while simultaneously enriching the entire soil profile with organic matter.
- Maintain the balance in the rotation between row crops and densely sown crops, depending on the slope and organize the land accordingly, with a network of forest strips and ponds placed in the lower parts of the landscape.
- Minimize or eliminate plowing with a moldboard plow by respecting crop rotation with greater crop diversity, using successive crops and plant residues to keep the soil surface always covered.
- Reduce the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides by efficiently recycling nutrients and organic matter within the farm, integrating crop and livestock branches.
- Ensure a non-deficit organic matter balance in the soil within each rotation and the entire farm by preparing composts using animal manure.
- Use irrigation cautiously, considering the quality of irrigation water and its impact on soil fertility.